Cook Islands - Day 8
Today's our last full day with the gang as they head back to Sydney tomorrow morning 😞
Courts has been banging on about a run for most the week and today is the day. She's managed to convince Jeff to come along because misery loves company and it will look good on the Strava profile. We head out around 7:30 to try and beat the heat. We don't. It's mostly flat and the dogs that start barking and chasing us don't bite us at least.
It's back to the house where we have brekky and wait for the others to get up. Once everyone is fed and slathered in sunscreen we head out for a snorkel at the good spot.
3 of us hire snorkels for $14 across the road from a German couple running a dive shop who moved here 15 years ago. Jeff asks the obvious questions about the transition and "you must like it here then?" - "Well yes, it takes us 35 hours to get home to Frankfurt, so that gives you some idea how much we love it".
The weather has completely cleared up since yesterday and everyone is making the most of it. There's stacks of people at this snorkelling spot and you can see why. Visibility is great, it's not too windy and there are fish everywhere. We even see a turtle munching on half a coconut shell.
Courts stays shallow where she sees some bits and pieces, saving herself for the deep sea turtle snorkel we've got booked for later.
It's time to eat again and we head to a cafe that sounds interesting with local fare. The guy working there is very friendly but doesn't appear to have a good grasp on how his cafe works. He diverts to his wife a lot and the long and short of it is there are 7 of us and only 2 pieces of fried bread, which appears to be the basis of every dish on the menu. We thank him for his time and go and get burgers instead.
It's back to the house for a little rest and recharge then off to the sea turtle excursion. This was the one that we had to reschedule from the other day due to the weather. Conditions have significantly improved but there's still a bit of a current. We don our snorkel and fins and head into the water. Courts is nervous (as usual) but also because we're going over the passage that's 25 meters deep and you can't see or touch the bottom. The fins help and so do the handheld scooters we get to zing around under the water with. Cool.
And just like that we're off. We've got a guide and a couple others helping to keep the group together. We're seeing fish and turtles from the get go and Courts quickly gets over (mostly) her fear of deep water. There's something called fire coral that you need to be wary of, unless you want a gnarly rash. It's easy to spot and remember the rule at least: looks like fire, stings like fire.
We get up close with the turtles (maybe too close) and the guide hands around a star fish for people to hold. Don't touch the turtles though! Which we saw a dickhead do earlier in the day whilst standing all over the coral.
After about an hour they plop us on a boat and send us back to shore for a fruit platter.
We head back to the house and put in our orders for a takeaway joint near our last accommodation. Jeff, Courts and Cat go off to pick it up and take one last look at our old lagoon. Lovely stuff.
We get back and eat dinner, have a couple of drinks and reminisce about the week that was. It's been a great, easy and fun week with the gang. Bonds forged that not even Monopoly Deal can break.
